The 2004–05 Football League (known as the Coca-Cola Football League for sponsorship reasons) was the 106th completed season of
The Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
.
2004–05 was the first season of the rebranded Football League, with the
First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
,
Second and
Third Divisions becoming the
Football League Championship
The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...
,
Football League One
The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Lea ...
and
Football League Two
The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Le ...
respectively.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atla ...
replaced the
Nationwide Building Society
Nationwide Building Society is a British mutual financial institution, the seventh largest cooperative financial institution and the largest building society in the world with over 16 million members. Its headquarters are in Swindon, England ...
as title
sponsor.
Wigan Athletic
Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 193 ...
were promoted to the Premier League as Championship runners-up. They had only been elected to the Football League in 1978, had been the league's fourth-lowest placed club in the
1993–94 season, and before 2003 had never reached the second tier of English football.
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...
were relegated from the Championship to League One, becoming the first former
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
winners to be relegated to the third tier of their domestic league – having won two straight European Cups a quarter of a century earlier. Only ten seasons previously, in
1994–95, they had finished third in the Premier League, and had reached the quarter-finals of the
UEFA Cup the following season.
Events
*3 December 2004 –
League One side
Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the county ...
enters
financial administration. Under new Football League rules, the club is penalised 10 league points, placing the club in relegation danger.
*21 January 2005 – Former
Chelsea chairman
Ken Bates finalises a deal to buy a controlling interest in the debt-riddled
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
club
Leeds United
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...
.
*2 April 2005 –
Stockport County
Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...
become the first League team this season to be relegated.
*29 April 2005 –
League Two
The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Le ...
side
Cambridge United
Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...
enters financial administration, six days after being formally relegated from the Football League.
*7 June 2005 –
George Burley
George Elder Burley (born 3 June 1956) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He had a professional career spanning 21 years as a player, making 628 league appearances and earning 11 Scotland caps. His most successful spell came wh ...
resigns as manager of
Derby County
Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group.
Founded in 1884 ...
, citing differences with the club’s board.
*24 June 2005 – Former
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...
assistant manager
Phil Brown becomes
Derby County
Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group.
Founded in 1884 ...
’s fifth manager in four years.
Final league tables and results
The tables below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found a
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundationwebsite,
with home and away statistics separated. Play-off results are from the same website.
Championship
Play-offs
Topscorers
League One
Play-offs
Topscorers
League Two
Play-offs
Topscorers
soccernet.espn.go.com
/ref>
See also
*2004–05 in English football
The 2004–05 season was the 125th season of competitive football in England.
Overview
*2004–05 was the first season to feature the rebranded Football League. The First Division, Second Division and Third Division were renamed the Football ...
*2004 in association football
The following are the association football events of the year 2004 throughout the world.
Events
*5 January – Manager Mark Wotte leaves Dutch club Willem II Tilburg and becomes technical director at Feyenoord Rotterdam.
*29 January – Dutc ...
*2005 in association football
The following are the association football events of the year 2005 throughout the world.
Events
*January 21 – German referee Robert Hoyzer admits to having accepted large sums of money from a gambling syndicate to fix matches. The resulting ...
References
External links
Football League Tables
{{DEFAULTSORT:Football League 2004-05
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...